Ultimates V2 #9 discussion (SPOILERS!!)

MoS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
1,034
Location
Portland, OR
THERE BE SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD

Read no further if you don't want to be spoiled. Having said that, we should still be using spoilers, because we're all nice people here. Click on the black spoiler tag in the format section or use this code:
text you want hidden [/SPOILE]
(but put the last "r" back in "spoiler"


Okay, boy and girls, let's kick it off...
 
So she was the traitor huh .. kinda stupid
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow.

I've just seen the art. An okay issue, hopefully made better by the words.

Spoilers, because this is big stuff:

1. We get to see Black Widow half-naked.
2. Black Widow shoots Jarvis in the head and puts the gun to Tony's head.
3. The "enemy" Ultimates invade.
4. Is that Gunnar or Hank Pym with them?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I liked the fact that Ultimate Spider Jerusalem shows up, myself....

Project - that looks like Hank to me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ok so how do you explain how natasha and tony are in U3 according to Loeb
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Pretty sure Loeb said, about 10 times in the interview, that he didn't want to give anything away and spoil Millar's run and that those were just preliminary sketch designs.
 
Okay, so without giving away anything too specific...

When I first saw the initial preview pages, I felt that the panels with the wreckage of the Trisk' were a little too deliberately evocative of 9/11 style imagery. That Millar and Hitch were consciously resorting to 'Ground Zero'-esque aesthetics to build up a palpabale sense of danger.

Now that I've seen the full art, I would have to agree that my inital suspicions have been justified.

I think it raises an interest point about our collective "visual vocabulary" regarding the idea of "disaster". I mean, "disaster films" like, say, Towering Inferno were so common in the 70s that the genre produced actual parodies liek Airplane! So why, in a story that features purposely anachronistic foes (Nazis in Volume 1, and now what appear to be Soviets), do they opt to use such decidedly 'contemporary' visuals to establish danger?

This is not a matter of 'sensitivity' -- 9/11 itself happened almost 5 years ago now. But I'm starting to believe that there's an aesthetic disconnect between the Silver Age narrative homages and the topical-for-the-sake-of-it visuals. For the first time, I'm wondering if the series is a one-trick pony, and we MAY be giving it more than its due, creatively.

I'll post my final say this weekend, after I've read the issue itself. (The nearest LCS stocks its issues on Thursday afternoon, at the earliest.) But until then, I'm a bit more guarded about my enthusiasm for the issue.

EDIT: Just to clarify, if anybody is wondering why we're already discussing an issue we haven't read yet, it's because the identity of the traitor has already been revealed through a website that posted finished pencils of the ENTIRE ISSUE, as well as various threads on MillarWorld, started by people who have already seen it (apparently).
 
Last edited:
So who was the traitor then? I'm assuming from the posts it was indeed Black Widow (and guys, the thread is marked "spoilers", so no need to use the tags in the thread itself).

And really, can we have a rundown/summary of the issue? God, the first post of the thread should actually have a review of the damn issue. Sorry Rhyo, I love you and all, but you ticked me off with that one. I expect that from Hawkeye101 or Lil Kis, maybe even an extremely drunk MWoF, but starting a spoiler thread for what has to be the most anticipated Ultimates issue of the year by far with no review or summary is just in bad taste. Anyway, no big deal...just someone post a damn summary already, or at least offer up some links we can see it at!

Sorry, my rant is over.
 
DIrishB said:
And really, can we have a rundown/summary of the issue? God, the first post of the thread should actually have a review of the damn issue. Sorry Rhyo, I love you and all, but you ticked me off with that one. I expect that from Hawkeye101 or Lil Kis, maybe even an extremely drunk MWoF, but starting a spoiler thread for what has to be the most anticipated Ultimates issue of the year by far with no review or summary is just in bad taste. Anyway, no big deal...just someone post a damn summary already, or at least offer up some links we can see it at!
Here is the complete 29-page gallery with finished pencils for the issue:
http://www.theartofcomics.com/u16.htm

The only reason Rhyo started the thread in advance was because people were commenting about the completed artwork on other threads, without placing the appropriate details in spoiler tags.
 
GMaster said:
http://www.theartofcomics.com/u16.htm
Check that out. It sells original art, and has the whole comic up without colour or text.

compound said:
Here is the complete 29-page gallery with finished pencils for the issue:
http://www.theartofcomics.com/u16.htm

The only reason Rhyo started the thread in advance was because people were commenting about the completed artwork on other threads, without placing the appropriate details in spoiler tags.

Ok, cool, thanks guys. And like I said, nothing personal against Rhyo, she's always offering up great reviews of lesser-known books, its just people starting spoiler threads without giving summaries and reviews is a major pet-peeve (I know, I need to get out more). But all I'm saying is expect for MWoF to be banned after he comments. You know its coming.

Anyway, thanks for the links guys.
 
It's Loki, not Pym. And I don't think Tony is dead.

To sum it up:

-Widow's the Traitor.
-Pym is ALSO a Traitor.
-The anti-Ultimates are a coalition of Russian, Chinese, North Korean and Arab states, teamed up with Loki.
-Members I recognized were Red Skull, Abomination, Vanguard, Crimson Dynamo, and Loki. I didn't recognize the others.
-The anti-Ultimates have a symbol that I didn't recognize: A red fist.
-It's pretty certain that both Thor and Loki are indeed Gods.
-Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch take center stage, kicking *** and taking names. Although, both of them go down eventually.
-Fury gets his arm ripped off.
-Red Skull is a non deformed Colonel of an as-of-yet-unidentified nation.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were definete favorites this issue. Also, the Asian supersoldiers using themselves as human bullets to take down the Giant Men was particularily nasty.

Widow as the Traitor was underwhelming. It makes the most sense, though. Nice to know Pym has jumped ship, however.
 
Guijllons said:
I'm weak, I looked, I now know who but not why.
Now that's an action packed issue, any guesses on the guys on the last page?

Widow jumped ship for FREE, becuase she was afraid of America's growing power. At least, that's what Dynamo said. Also, look above for who's who.
 
I don't care what the pages reveal, I still think it's Betty Ross.

lol.

Actually, Natasha may actually be a Skrull . . . something to think about.
 
Ah, I went to reply before that was posted. Nice one :)

And yeah, I have to admit that Widow being the traitor wasn't great, I was discounting her because it felt a little obvious. Guessing she she just infiltrated the Ultimates for this purpose and was a double agent all the time and only got close to tony for his Irontech armour. Was the plane being built by Stark enterprises mentioned?
 
We added spoilers tags DIrishB, because this is BIG stuff.

And because they're fun to add anyway.
 
I just got the issue at my shop and have read it twice.

Crazy issue

Ok, so Widow is the traitor. Kudos to everyone who said her and stuck by it. I think we all figured it would come out being her, she was the most likely candidate, some of us were just hoping for a crazier twist. Anyways, on to the details. For anyone who didn't look at the pencils, I'll describe the whole issue.

We open with the pages of Hawkeye being interrogated, then we cut to the scene of Tony and Natasha. Tony and Jarvis are snapping at each other and he says Widow is feeling upset. She says she wants to duck the meeting with Fury at the Triskelion and she and Tony begin making out.

Interesting fact here, I'll mention it right off the bat. This ENTIRE issue, Tony's eyes are BROWN. Don't know if this means anything at this point, if it's just constant goofing or what, but I thought I'd mention it.

Anyways, we cut to the Triskelion where Quicksilver is saying the entire affair with Cap and Thor doesn't sit right with him and suddenly the power cuts and everyone goes oh my god. We look out and all the helicarriers are being shoved towards the Triskelion and Betty Ross and Nick hold hands as the Triskelion goes down. We see a bunch of supersuits flying away and someone says "Move to Manhattan for Phase Two"

We cut back and see the Widow turn, she puts a gun to Tony's head and a bullet through Jarvis's.

We're in Manhattan and the city is under attack from a bunch of giant robots. At the Triskelion, it's revealed Quicksilver managed to save the first three floors of people but couldn't get the rest. He then takes off to Manhattan to fight the robots and leaves Wanda and the others at the Triskelion to deal with the flying supergoons. Wanda manages to unleash a crazy *** blast that seems to hold off an incoming wave and all the SHIELD reserves and giant men get deployed and TROUNCED by enemy supergoons. I mean, human bullets coming through the head. Good stuff.

Thor says someone has stolen the lightning and the faux Thor takes out Quicksilver and Wanda loses control and seems to collapse. Oh, Fury got an arm punched off during the fight, forgot that.

We cut what appears to be the top of the Triskelion, and LOKI is standing there talking with The Red Skull (who appears to be super-suited and wearing an all red Cap-style helmet, no chinstrap. He also carries a staff with two glowing red ends. Loki asks him if all this carnage is sastisfying after what America did to his nation and RS responds he's not here for revenge, he's here as a volunteer leading an international collective because The New Roman Empire needed to be restrained. We then do jump cuts and find that LA, Chicago and Washington have all been subdued, the invaders control all military and nuclear facilities and have the go codes, and the Fantastic Four and X-Men have been subdued. Skull then orders someone to call in Pym for the containment procedures (Ultrons I presume)

Loki gloats on how it only took then an hour to subdue America and how meticulously planned it was. CRIMSON DYNAMO asks him why Loki is there. Apparently the consortium is made up of Russians, Chinese, Arabs and North Koreans, and Widow betrayed the team for free out of fear of America's power. Loki says he's there because he's the god of mischief and World War Three is the biggest mischief you can have. He also says since the Ultimates had a Norse God on their side, it was only fair the invaders have one on theirs (confirmation of Godhood?)

Red Skull then records a bunch of the robots and flying goons toppling the Statue of Liberty and the last page is a full panel of the presumed Anti-Ultimates standing victorious with the Red Skull raising his staff and saying The Great Satan has been liberated.

Whew.

Ok, now on too thoughts. I enjoyed the issue. The colored art was great, and the way America was taken out so easily was crazy. Oh, and Ultimate Quicksilver is a major bad-*** and actually good guy it seems. I enjoyed that. Onwards. Widow was the traitor, as I said before. Not much else revealed, have to see where it's going but we finally got that out of the way.

Loki is involved. Yay. Ok, so what's his role going to be? Pym apparently is involved in containment procedures for superhumans, so I can only presume that means an army of Ultrons. What if if the real twist coming is that Loki is going to double cross his allies and turn the Ultrons on everyone? Could be fun.

The Anti-Ultimates (or Masters of Evil) are revealed on the last page. We know Red Skull. Same with Crimson Dynamo. Ant-Thor actually looks ALOT like Hawkeye. Bald, earring and sunglasses. Same outfit and harness as Thor, different hammer and the sickle. Loki is down there, standing with an all gree chcik with claws and downturned ram horns and a black girl wearing a white costume and helmet that is long and kinda conical with a plume of hair coming off it (Black Knight?) Above her is a guy with blonde longish hair, dressed in an outfit that looks like a Union suit. His outfit is dark green with light green bands on his legs and a light green x striping his chest and a black diamond in the middle. At the top, we see a giant guy, who looks like a cross between Hulk and Godzilla. He had claws, pointy ears and sharp teeth, scales and a tail. Add in all the flying supergoons, giant robots and the crazy blimp things (their version of helicarriers I presume) and this is the invading force.

Ok, so who wants to start guessing on who these people are? What's going on? I'm looking forward to #10 now. Who else has read it?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Latest posts

Back
Top